Tales of The Mighty Dragonair

Arthur passed through the portal and appeared inside his magnificent palace. Just seeing this place made him feel weird.

Being absorbed in cultivation was something extraordinary. Even after the passage of twenty years, for him it was like a blink of an eye. 

Just seeing this palace made him recall the events that happened here like it happened yesterday. 

As he sat over the main throne, watching the warm atmosphere around coupled with the rays of the shining sun over the place, many portals flashed and his peak masters appeared one by one.

Twenty years passed and it wasn't a simple time, yet most of his friends and his generals looked the same. Few showed exhausted expressions over their faces, especially Deem and Gor, yet the rest looked the same.

Looking at Deem and Gor made Arthur feel empathy for the two. Most of the work done here depended on these two, exhaustion was something expected.

Building cities and expanding the reign of his empire, copying the cultivation manuals, building the sect's numerous headquarters, and even training people over arrays and building… These were all their tasks.

If other tasks had many people to accomplish, but these two were the only people he had to do such important jobs.

"How are you all doing?" he asked at first, while looking precisely at Deem and Gor.

"We have problems," Amera was direct as always.

"It's just the will of the people we thought to be geniuses that are lacking," but Doaf seemed to be disagreeing with her, "if they are just like us, like our people, then they won't show such attitude and try to preserve."

"I don't see any problem at all," the crow said while acting aloof, "my people are all persistent and have abandoned the training so far."

"That's because you only selected the cream of the crop," Sara complained, "if you did like us and accepted everyone, then you would have faced such a problem."

"Alright, calm down a little," just from hearing this small discussion and argument, Arthur realized this problem was deeper than he initially thought.

It seemed even his peak masters were affected by it, even had their own theories about what went wrong.

Yet nothing they said was true. In fact Arthur knew the main mistake came from no one but him. So as he was the one to commit this error in the first place, he decided to take the charge and be responsible for fixing it.

"I believe the problem is the internal demon, right?" he calmly said, while closely watching the reaction of everyone present.

"It's not that," Ron shook his head before adding, "it's related to many people asking to abandon the golden pearl training."

"They are fools!" Jude said in disdain, "even after seeing many accomplishing this feat, they didn't stick around and try harder."

"Don't say that," Madly seemed no less aggressive than before, "even amidst those who attained golden pearl energy, some of them decided to give up."

"That's your problem," the crow shrugged in a carefree mood, "I never faced such a problem from the start. You all played it wrongly and selected quantity over quality. Since when our big clans developed talents without strong will? This is your mistake, not theirs."

"You…" Amera's eyes shone brightly and the atmosphere suddenly changed, "I dare you to say it one more time!"

"Silence!" Arthur didn't like the current mood and the present attitude between everyone. In his eyes, they were all his friends and comrades in arms. 

They both witnessed and experienced many hardships together. Yet just in the span of twenty years, he saw the chaotic seeds of their previous lives resurfacing again, threatening the cohesion of his empire.

"Since when we were talking with fists and not minds? That's ridiculous!" Arthur even stood up before he released his fully developed golden pearl energy.

All of sudden the atmosphere here changed. It looked like a sun just descended in this world, as his entire body got bathed under bright golden light that came from his body.

Yet despite it looking like a sun, the temperature in the hall dropped to sub zero in just an instant. At this moment, Arthur showed his demeanor as an emperor, something many here seemed to forget with the passage of years.

"If anyone wants to challenge you, you are free to come and find me," he said in a challenging manner. Yet no one dared to speak a single word further.

In fact on their faces a shocking expression came up clearly in his eyes. They were all shocked, shocked by the level of his strength that seemed unfathomable.

To them, they really forgot about his tyranny. They still held the memories of fighting and roaming the universe with him as mere bedtime stories.

Yet at this moment, they all realized how foolish they were. Just from releasing his energy without doing anything else made their souls shudder.

In their eyes, he returned to become the bloody dragon who stood aloof and mighty against even the grandmasters of their worlds, of the higher realms. The one who created miracle after miracle without showing any signs of stopping.

"You became stronger, hooray!" amidst such a depressing atmosphere, it was Tina who laughed wholeheartedly as if she never felt threatened in the first place.

Her words broke the ice of this situation without planning to. Everyone's gazes changed as they realized the simple fact they all missed amidst their shock… Arthur was their emperor, their sole ruler.

And their legendary figure just grew stronger, much stronger than ever.

"I selected each one of you just because I trust you all," Arthur didn't comment over Tina's words but he addressed everyone before continuing, "so don't disappoint me. I hate to be disappointed."

"Blop!"

"Blop!"

"Blop!"

He didn't know who started it first, but everyone knelt on their knees and bowed their heads to the lowest degree and hit the ground. In their eyes, Arthur was such an insurmountable existence, one they dreamt to become alike and knew they would never ever reach.

"Stand up, I know where the problem lies and how to fix it," he casually waved his hand while retracting his energy. He didn't lose anything by showing off like this, after all his body was now brimming with golden energy.

Yet his anger didn't subside like this. He hated it to the bone! How the people he selected were all polluted with the useless thoughts of the clans and academies of this universe.

Such useless thoughts and beliefs were enough to bring demise upon his empire.. And that made just the importance of teaching the new generation of his empire higher than before.